Chapter 5 - Kendra Calls From The Ship
Kendra called that afternoon.
I answered.
Her first words were:
“Why did you freeze everything?”
Not:
How are your ribs?
Not:
How is Nia?
I asked:
“Did you know Mom used my money for your condo?”
Silence.
Then:
“She helped me with the down payment.”
“With my money.”
“Naomi, Mom said it was family money.”
“Did you know I funded the family account?”
Another silence.
“Yes.”
Marcus looked away.
I asked why she never told me.
Kendra became defensive.
“You make way more than I do.”
That sentence ended any remaining ambiguity.
She knew enough to justify it.
She said I had a stable career.
Marcus earned well.
We owned a house.
She had student debt.
Life had been harder for her.
I thought about my secondhand nursery dresser.
The overtime shifts.
The vacations Marcus and I postponed.
Then I asked one question.
“When did you last ask how I was after the accident?”
Kendra did not answer.
I ended the call.
May you like
Not dramatically.
I simply pressed the red button.
